About Me Category

Well, for kicks you might swim with the alligators in the canals at Gables-by-the-Sea; or maybe check out Ray Allen’s house while the wife and kids are sleeping? NOT. It does make for some interesting reading though. This weekend some restless party goers at a home on Lugo Avenue in Gables-by-the-Sea jumped into the canal to swim and apparently ticked off an alligator who bit the two kids (South Miami Hospital ER probably hasn’t seen that in a long time).

That event still doesn’t score as high on the knucklehead richter scale as that of the kids at the Tahiti Beach party who ‘snuck’ into Ray Allen’s house while his wife and kids were sleeping. Could that have sounded remotely like the Sean Taylor event a few years back? Although different circumstances, what if Ray or Shannon Allen had defended their homestead with a shotgun? Would the Coral Gables police still be debating what crime occurred?

I love “Throwback Thursday” and find myself completely entertained while scrolling through TBT pictures posted on Facebook. Who doesn’t enjoy looking at old pictures? So I’m taking this concept a step further and posting a “Throwback Thursday” blog each week which will spotlight an older, original style home in South Miami, Coral Gables, and Coconut Grove, and fast forward to its present day ‘face’. AKA, a renovation! My favorite part of being a realtor in Miami is seeing a beautiful transformation.

Casa Byrne, 1996, Day One of Renovation Phase I

Casa Byrne, 1990, Move-In Day

Appropriately, I am starting TBT with pictures of my own home in South Miami, The City of Pleasant Living. Built in 1962 by the original owner and purchased by my husband and me in May, 1990, it has come a long way! ‘Casa Byrne’ has been a work in progress for nearly 25 years, and who knows what it will look like in 20 more.

Casa Byrne, 2014

To learn more about real estate in South Miami, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay, contact Val Byrne at [email protected] or at 305-323-6231. Val Byrne – Working For You!

LUCKY YOU if you live in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, South Miami, High Pines (and Ponce corridor), or Pinecrest, because they are Farmers’ Market communities! A community is only as good as its ‘sense of community’, and there is something wonderfully refreshing and ‘grass roots’ about bumping into friends and neighbors while shopping for fresh produce!

I shop at least one Farmers’ Market each week, and to add to the adventure, I either walk or cycle (sometimes I don’t recognize myself). I have to admit my favorite is the Pinecrest Gardens Farmers’ Market. I live in South Miami but I am a Pinecrest Farmers’ Market girl.

Aside from the stellar fruits and vegetables, there are a few things I don’t resist: Fatima’s Soaps and Candles are amazing, the guacamole guy has bar none the best EVER, my peeps LOVE the maple bacon and sweet Italian sausage, and the lady in the middle-aisle bread station has THE best Asiago bread.

Whether you live in one of these great communities or are thinking about buying real estate in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, South Miami/High Pines, or Pinecrest, be sure to support the local economy, the local farmer, and HAVE A GREAT TIME!

EWM announced the 2013 Chairman’s Club members this weekend. 32 EWM agents in Dade and Broward Counties have been given the highest honor, the Diamond Club Level, for selling the most real estate (dollar volume) company-wide, and representing the most selective “top” 1/2 of 1% of realtors nationwide. They say a person is judged by the company they keep, and as a member of the Diamond Club I am honored to be keeping company with these outstanding professionals, especially those selling real estate in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, South Miami, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, and the Ponce/Davis corridor. I not only specialize in real estate in those neighborhoods, but have lived in or been a property owner in each one of them too!

Val ByrneWorking For You!

A very special thank you to the Buyers and Sellers who worked with me this past year – it was a complete pleasure, and I am happy to call each one of you ‘friend’. As they say at my son’s high school (Christopher Columbus High School), Adelante! 2014 is off to a great start!

To learn more about real estate in South Miami, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay, contact Val Byrne at [email protected] or at 305-323-6231. Val Byrne – Working For You!

It takes more than a willing Buyer and Seller to close a real estate transaction, especially in today’s market where low inventory can produce stress and hasty decisions. It ‘takes a village’ of professionals who can work together harmoniously for the same goal.

I’ve been very fortunate this year to have worked with not only great Buyers and Sellers, but some of the kindest, most wonderfully experienced realtors, home inspectors, permit processors, title companies, and real estate attorneys working in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, South Miami, Palmetto Bay, and the surrounding corridors.

Thank you for a fantastic year, and best wishes to all of you in 2014.

To learn more about South Miami, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay, contact Val Byrne with EWM Realty International or www.MiamiRealEstateWorks.com at email at [email protected] or by phone at 305-323-6231. Val Byrne – Working For You

There are so many art venues to see this week; it will be impossible to see everything I want to see. I have a ‘bucket list’, and little by little I’m making my way through it. Yesterday, I went to Art Miami (Christie’s International is a sponsor), Context, and Spectrum Miami. It was a WOW day: wow the gallery displays were amazing, and wow my feet were killing me. Have you ever seen the Modern Family show where Gloria (Sofia Vergara) painfully walks through Disneyland in high heels and Jay buys her some plush mini-mouse slippers? Rule number 1 at Art Week Miami: flat shoes.

I dread the traffic but this weekend I’m headed to Miami Beach to enjoy Art Basel, AQUA, NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance – an incredible non-profit!), and the Brazil Art Fair. The Perez Art Museum is No. 1 on my list, but now it’s part of our Miami culture so I may avoid the crowd and see it MANY TIMES in my future. I look forward to getting back to routine, the holidays, real estate (I specialize in South Miami, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, & Palmetto Bay), and family life!

Here are a few glimpses of yesterday (I love animal sculptures. PS, the bottom right picture is not a sculpture, it’s my sleeping dog, Oz):

To learn more about South Miami, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay, contact Val Byrne with EWM Realty International or www.MiamiRealEstateWorks.com at email at [email protected] or by phone at 305-323-6231. Val Byrne – Working For You!

Tomorrow is Halloween and my favorite day of the year! I have been watching ‘trick or treaters’ parade up and down my street in beautiful South Miami for over 20 years (you’ll recall from an earlier blog that I referred to my South Miami home as being located on “Happy Street”).

I can only compare this scene to a child’s Mardi Gras with lots of parents in tow. I am not sure who has more fun, the big people or the little people! At just about every door you can grab some candy, a beer, and a slice of pizza. It’s a wonderful life back here behind Dante Fascell Park in the Happy Street neighborhood. One of my greatest decisions was buying a home in charming South Miami, the fact that we landed on Happy Street was pure luck!

To learn more about South Miami or any other community – including Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay, contact Val Byrne with EWM Realty International on www.MiamiRealEstateWorks.com or email at [email protected] or by phone at 305-323-6231. Val Byrne – Working For You!

I was at “Books and Books” last weekend and lucky for me owner Mitch Kaplan was there too (which puts a whole different spin on reading and book buying). We got into a conversation about some mutual friends and their children, and Mitch said he calls the street the friends live on ‘Happy Street’ and wished he lived on that street. Hey, THAT’S MY STREET – I live just a couple of doors down from his friends, and it’s the most accurate description of our street I have ever heard!

Halloween on Happy Street

That little slice of paradise in South Miami just behind Dante Fascell Park near Epiphany Church is ‘Happy’ and I am not saying that because I specialize in real estate in South Miami, or because I have sold over 100 homes in South Miami. I say it because it’s true. The neighbors are friends, real friends, and the kids are inseparable. We have Thanksgiving meals together, back-to-school parties, movie nights and the most incredible Halloweens you could imagine; we watch the Super Bowl and NBA playoffs together, and now we are anxiously watching “Breaking Bad” together. At the end of any day, good or bad, my greatest pleasure is getting back to ‘Happy Street’.

To learn more about South Miami or any other community – including Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay, contact Val Byrne with EWM Realty International on www.MiamiRealEstateWorks.com or email at [email protected] or by phone at 305-323-6231. Val Byrne – Working For You!

I was honored this past week to appear in the Wall Street Journal – of course reporting on the housing market. The outlook in Florida, and Miami in particular, is so bright right now – housing prices are up by double digits in Dade County over the past year. WSJ reports that home prices are rising at the fastest rate in seven years as buyers return to a market where the number of properties for sale is in short supply. My own personal experiences this past quarter reports “short supply” is an UNDERSTATEMENT!

I have several Buyers who consider themselves very lucky to FINALLY have a closing on the horizon. In the next five weeks we are happy to be closing on properties in Coconut Grove, Hammock Lakes (after a year-long search!), Coral Gables, and Palmetto Bay. These Buyers will all attest that patience, tenacity, and complete knowledge of the market as it changed each day were the keys to success. Knowing the moment a property is listed “For Sale” and seeing it the same day is a must.

5001 Hammock Lake Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33156

Advice for Buyers out there: if you are relying on Trulia, Zillow, or another source for reporting new homes on the market for sale you are going to find (you probably already have) that by the time you are notified of a new property on the market, it is often already under contract – that is how fast real estate in Miami is moving!

To learn more about South Miami or any other community – including Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay, contact Val Byrne with EWM Realty International on www.MiamiRealEstateWorks.com or email at [email protected] or by phone at 305-323-6231. Val Byrne – Working For You!

EWM announced the Chairman’s Club Members this past week – 84 Sales Associates in the company earned gross sales in the top 2% nationally – I was the 14th highest grossing Associate in the company (and in a small class of Associates ranked in the top 1/2 of 1% nationally)!

If you ask each of the 40 what they attribute their success to some of the answers would be the same, almost generic in a sense: knowledge, hard work, persistence. Definitely can’t get to the top without that. But, if you dig a little deeper, you will find a group of ‘out of the box’ thinkers who not only know ‘the market’ and how to market, we inherently know our neighborhoods, our schools, origins and the nuances that go with them; we have some understanding of construction and renovation, are keenly aware of styles and trends, and have good dollars and sense about value – present, past, and future.

We also know that we couldn’t climb to the top without loyal and trusting clients. I thank all of the Buyers and Sellers in South Miami, Brickell, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, & Palmetto Bay who contributed to a successful 2012 for me – it is an honor to work for you and with you.

To learn more about South Miami or any other community – including Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay, contact Val Byrne with EWM Realty International on www.MiamiRealEstateWorks.com or email at [email protected] or by phone at 305-323-6231. Val Byrne – Working For You!